Stojan Osojnak (1923-2016) was a Croatian football player and manager.

Career

Osojnak played for Rijeka and

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

in the 1940s and 1950s. He is considered as the most notable football player from

Opatija Opatija (; it, Abbazia; german: Sankt Jakobi) is a List of cities and towns in Croatia, town and a municipality in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in western Croatia. The traditional seaside resort on the Kvarner Gulf is known for its Mediterranean ...

, and one of the five greatest forwards in the early history of HNK Rijeka (along with

Bruno Veselica Bruno Veselica (24 January 1936 – 20 November 2018) was a Croatia-born Yugoslav footballer. Career As a player, he was regarded as one of HNK Rijeka's best forwards of all time. He is the club's second highest top scorer of all time after Bo ...

, Miodrag Kustudić, Milan Radović and Tonči Gulin). Osojnak was also notable for appearing in the first ever match played by Dinamo Zagreb on 23 June 1945, a friendly game against the

Yugoslav Air Force The Air Force and Air Defence ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздушна одбрана, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazdušna odbrana ; abbr. sh-Cyrl-Latn, label=none, separator=/, РВ и ПВ� ...

team played in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

. However, Osojnak was dropped from the squad before the club started competing in post-war championships and he did not appear for the club in competitive matches in the following seasons. Between the late 1940s and early 1950s he had his first spell at NK Rijeka (named "NK Kvarner" at the time) and scored 45 league goals for the club in the period from 1949 and 1953. In 1953 he was signed by Dinamo Zagreb and this time he appeared in 22 league matches and scored 11 goals over the next three

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

seasons, appearing alongside other Dinamo greats such as Željko Čajkovski, Tomislav Crnković, Dionizije Dvornić, Vladimir Čonč and Luka Lipošinović. He is mainly remembered for his performances in the title-winning 1953–54 season, in which he scored 9 goals in 10 league appearances for the Blues, including the crucial goal against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

Maksimir Maksimir () is one of the districts of Zagreb, Croatia, population 48,902 (2011 census). Maksimir stadium and Maksimir Park are located in it. It was named for Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac. The urban center of the Maksimir district is located aro ...

on 25 April 1954, which sealed Dinamo's second championship triumph. In 1955 he returned to Rijeka and played there until his retirement in 1959, scoring 26 goals for the club in his last four playing seasons. After retiring from active football, Osojnak started working as manager and had three managing spells at NK Rijeka (1960–1961, 1962–1963 with Angelo Zikovich and 1964–1967), his greatest achievements being finishing 4th in the Yugoslav championship in 1964–65 and 1965–66. He also had managing spells at several clubs in Switzerland, including

FC Sion Football Club de Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss football team from the city of Sion. The club was founded in 1909, and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have won the Swiss Super League twice, and ...

(1967–1968, replacing his former Dinamo teammate

Lev Mantula Lav Mantula (8 December 1928 – 1 December 2008) was a footballer who represented Yugoslavia at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. Club career He played club football in Yugoslavia with FK Sarajevo, Dinamo Zagreb and NK Zagreb and in Switzerland with Ser ...

) and

FC Chiasso FC Chiasso is a Swiss football club based in Chiasso. It was founded in 1905. Chiasso also played in the Italian first league between 1914 and 1923. The team's most glorious period was between 1948 and 1961, when the team was promoted to the ...

(1969–1970 and 1993).

Honours

;NK Rijeka *

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav or Yugoslavian may refer to: * Yugoslavia, or any of the three historic states carrying that name: ** Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a European monarchy which existed 1918–1945 (officially called "Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes" 1918–1 ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

, 1957–58 ;Dinamo Zagreb *

: 1953–54

References

External links

Short article about Osojnak
at '' Jutarnji list''
Stojan Osojnak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osojnak, Stojan 1923 births 2016 deaths People from Opatija Footballers from Rijeka Italian people of Croatian descent Association football forwards Italian footballers Yugoslav footballers NK Opatija players HNK Rijeka players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Yugoslav First League players Italian football managers Yugoslav football managers Croatian football managers HNK Rijeka managers FC Sion managers FC Chiasso managers Yugoslav expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland Yugoslav expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Italian expatriate football managers Croatian expatriate football managers Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland